Seeking the Path

Motivating others to take the path is not an easy endeavor.
Shinran Shonin lamented that we are fully entrenched in the
world of our creation; a world filled with the Three Poisons.
It is especially difficult for us to consider a different way
of living life when there is no living example readily available
to us. Instead, we worry that if we don’t keep trying we will
just get further behind.

...inexpressible,
inexplicable, and inconceivable.

Given how busy we have made our lives
in our world, it may seem that there is no time to focus on
how life could be lived differently. This obstacle existed
during Sakyamuni Buddha’s time as well. This story that Sakyamuni
Buddha hesitated for 49 days before getting up from his meditation
to expound the Dharma underscores the difficulty of transmitting
the Dharma. Doctrine is the systematized understanding of the
Truth of a particular tradition. However, Truth frequently
is beyond description. For this reason the Buddha hesitated
to teach.

From the perspective of the person who receives the truth,
Shinran Shonin described the Dharma as "inexpressible,
inexplicable, and inconceivable." He used the same terms
to describe the heart through which the Dharma is transmitted.

Despite these limitations, we discover that the Dharma, the
truth can still be transmitted. However, it is very difficult.
The following story is an example of this difficulty. It is
from the Vinaya or the Rules of Conduct for monks
and nuns.

Upaka and Buddha

…the World-Honored
One met Upaka, a follower of a false path that espoused
an evil way of life. Upaka was struck by the serenity
of the World-Honored One’s appearance and said, "Your
appearance is truly serene, pure, and lucid. As a mendicant,
whom did you take as your teacher and what kind of teaching
did he impart?

The World-Honored One answered this question
in verse: "I
am victorious in battle; my wisdom is superior; I am unstained
by all things; I am free of all sufferings; the thirst of
lust has been emptied in me; I am perfectly enlightened.
This is entirely due to my wisdom; whom shall I regard as
my teacher? In heaven and on earth, there is no one who is
my equal. I am the Enlightened One of this world; I am the
supreme teacher. I alone dwell in pure quiescence. From now
on, I shall turn the Wheel of the Dharma in this blind world;
here I shall beat the drum of immortality. To accomplish
this, I now direct myself to the city of Kasi."
Upaka said, "World-Honored One, do you, of your
own accord, call yourself ‘the Enlightened One’ and ‘the
Victorious One’?" The World-Honored One replied, "He
who has extinguished all defilements and has restrained evil—is
not that man ‘the Victorious One’?" Upaka said, "perhaps
that is so," and nodding his head, he departed, taking
a different path.

It
is difficult to hear the Buddha-Dharma.

This narrative informs us that even if we meet a Buddha, we
still need the heart to receive a Buddha. For this reason the
Three Refuges states, "It is difficult to hear the Buddha-Dharma." Like
the passer by, we live in a world where the Buddha-Dharma has
already been transmitted. This necessary condition that enables
us to hear the Dharma has already been established, and only
after overcoming the difficulties of transcending languages,
cultures, space, and time. But simply meeting with or being
in the presence of the Dharma may not be enough; that is clear
from the anecdote above. We need to hear and also receive.
The Sangha was established to help us do so. Sangha is the
reason temples are founded and supported.